Jun 2, 2025
At Precision AQ, we know that navigating patient access challenges requires more than data—it takes real-world expertise. That’s why we’ve launched our Meet Our Access Experience Team series, introducing the industry insiders who help life science companies anticipate payer challenges, optimize access strategies, and accelerate time to therapy.
Meet Shraddha Kansagra, PharmD, BCOP, Senior Director, Access Experience Team. With a background at several major academic institutions, she brings more than 15 years of experience as a clinical oncology/hematology pharmacist. Below are some insights from Shraddha.
Q&A with Shraddha Kansagra
Q: Can you share a bit about your background and areas of specialty?
Direct patient care, medication management, and clinical oncology/hematology strategy are my areas of specialty. My expertise spans oral and intravenous chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and precision medicine with a focus on improving patient outcomes and interprofessional collaborations.
Q: Where did you work prior to Precision AQ?
I worked at University of Texas Southwestern for 7+ years specializing in gynecological, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary cancers. Previously, I was at Mayo Clinic and Yale New Haven Hospital. My work has focused on quality improvement initiatives, streamlining medication management and developing institutional guidelines, and leading initiatives to improve oral oncolytic workflows, chemotherapy safety, and better patient access to medications.
Q: What unique perspectives do you bring to ensuring patience access?
I have seen firsthand the barriers patients face—from insurance complexities to social and clinical challenges—and understand the critical role we play in overcoming them. My close collaboration with academic providers at the forefront of evidence-based innovations has equipped me to bridge clinical advancement with scalable solutions that ensure timely patient access across diverse healthcare settings.
Q: How has earning your board certification in oncology helped your clients more effectively overcome access obstacles in oncology?
By equipping me with deep clinical knowledge across a wide range of cancer types and therapies, this certification lets me understand the nuances of treatment decisions and the real-world challenges patients and providers face. With these insights, I’m able to help clients anticipate access barriers and align strategies that support timely, evidence-based care delivery.
Q: Which healthcare trends aren’t getting enough attention?
One under-recognized challenge is the time and complexity it takes for patients to actually start treatment after a diagnosis. Behind every delay are real patients navigating a maze of insurance approvals, scheduling barriers, financial burdens, and lack of social support. These obstacles force patients to make impossible choices between their health and other basic needs.
Q: Which trends will reshape healthcare in the next 1-3 years?
I see 3 areas that will gain great momentum:
- Integrating AI across the healthcare ecosystem will redefine decision-making, streamline administrative complexities, and improve patient access
- Precision medicine will keep evolving, expanding into new disease areas, and enabling targeted, effective therapies
- Health equity and patient-centered digital infrastructure will advance as hybrid care models and virtual clinical trials become widely adopted
Q: What are you most passionate about in healthcare?
Accelerating innovation and expanding access. Together, these 2 forces can empower patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers with actionable insights and evidence-based solutions as we deliver life-changing therapies.
Q: What do you like most about working at Precision AQ?
I’m surrounded by passionate, highly experienced colleagues from diverse backgrounds, all united by a shared mission—driving innovation to solve real-world challenges in patient access.
Q: What should life science organizations prioritize in innovation?
Bridging the gap between scientific discovery and real-world patient access. This includes harnessing the many different strengths of AI, utilizing technology to optimize resources for patients and providers, and leveraging innovation to make clinical trials more accessible, especially for underserved populations.
About Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team
Precision AQ’s Access Experience Team (AET), originally launched in 2009, was created to bridge the gap between payers and life sciences companies, offering deep insight into access decision-making. Comprising more than 25 former access decision-makers from prominent managed care organizations, specialty pharmacies, and health plans, the AET brings firsthand experience to payer strategies, reimbursement barriers, and evolving policies. As an integrated part of Precision AQ, the AET helps clients translate payer practices and market access insights into actionable strategies to improve patient access.
Want to connect? Reach out to shraddha.kansagra@precisionvh.com